Clothes hanger receptacle



Jan. 20, 1970 B. VON-MAUR, JR

CLOTHES HANGER RECEPTACLE Filed Aughz; 1968 FIG. 2

FIG.

FIG. 3

INVENTOR. R. B. VON MAUR United States Patent U.S. Cl. 211-49 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An elongated member has a hook-shaped slot extending its entire length for receiving the hook portion of conventional swivel-hook clothes hanger, such as are used on garmet display racks. A stand is provided at one end of the member to maintain it in an upright position, while successive empty hangers are placed in the receptacle with their hooks in the slot and their bodies horizontal. The upper end of the member has an opening, into which a clothes rod can be inserted so that the receptacle may be emptied by sliding the hangers from the slot onto the rod.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a receptacle for storing clothes hangers in clothing stores or the like.

Garments such as suits, dresses, skirts, and the like are conventionally displayed on clothes racks in clothing stores, and are hung on the racks by relatively substantial, reusable clothes hangers, which typically have a flat, symmetrical plastic body and a swingable metal hook, so that the garmet can easily be placed on the rack in either orientation with the open side of hook facing inwardly on the rack. As the displayed garments are sold, the garment is removed from the hanger and packaged for the customer, while the hanger is placed in a convenient location for reuse. Generally, the temporary storage of the hangers has been at or near the clerks station, and the hanger is quickly deposited in a box or similar receptacle while the clerk is accommodating the customer. At intervals, the box or the like is emptied, and the hangers are replaced on racks for reuse. However, experience has proven that the haphazard deposit of the hangers in the receptacle results in extensive entanglement of the hangers, which is complicated by the swivel-type hooks. Also, the box type recetpacle at the clerks station has wasted space and presented an unattractive appearance. Further, once the hangers are untangled, they must be individually placed on the racks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a compact, inexpensive, receptacle is provided for the orderly storage of clothes hangers in clothing stores or the like. More particularly, an elongated upright member is provided with an elongated slot along one side of the member and open toward the top for receiving the hook portions of successive clothes hangers, the successive hangers being horizontally piled in a vertical stack with their hooks retained in a horizontal condition in said slot.

An important feature of the invention resides in the provision of an opening at the end of the member within the hook portion of the slot for receiving the end of a rod onto which the entire stack of hangers can be slide Without individual handling of the hangers.

Another feature of the invention resides in the provision of an upright rod or post at the upper end of the elongated member, so that the swivel type hanger hook can be pressed against the post to place the hook in a horizontal position wherein it is easily received in the end of the slot.

3,490,599 Patented Jan. 20, 1970 Still another object of the invention is to provide a handle on the receptacle, so that it, and the hangers mounted thereon, can be easily carried.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a side elevation view of the hanger receptacle with a pair of hangers mounted therein.

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the receptacle, including the hangers.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of the central portion of the receptacle, showing the components at substantially full scale.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The clothes hanger receptacle is indicated in its entirely by the numeral 10 and includes an elongated upright member 12 having upper and lower ends 14 and 16 respectively.

An elongated slot 18 extends the entire length of one side of the member 12 and has a generally hook-shaped or J-shaped horizontal cross section with an interior arcuate portion 20 and a shank portion 22 extending tangentially from the end of the arcuate portion 20 to the opening 24 along the side of the member 12. The shank portion 22 tapers outwardly so that the opening 24 is substantially wider than the inner portions of the slot.

The member 12 is made of a single sheet of relatively thin rigid material formed to outline the slot 18, so that the member 12 has an exterior vertical side surface 26 with substantially the same configuration as the slot 18. Preferably, the member 12 is made of extruded aluminum, although it could be made of other relatively rigid materials such as extruded plastic, or formed sheet metal, or the like.

The lower end 16 of the member 12 is rigidly secured to the center of a round, horizontal base 28 by means of a number of L-shaped brackets 30 having one leg attached to the base and the other leg attached to the member 12, the attachment being accomplished by any con ventional method such as soldering, welding, or by means of separate fasteners. Of course, other method of attaching the member 12 to the base 28 could be utilized, and other means of supporting the member 12 in an upright condition could be utilized.

Extending upwardly from the upper end 14 0f the member 12 is an upright rod or post 32, which is attached to the side of the arcuate slot portion 20. The area on the inside of the hooked portion of the member 12 between the inner arcuate side wall 34 and the diverging side wall 36 forms a recess 38, which extends the length of the member 12 and is capable of receiving an elongated clothes rod (not shown).

A handle 40 is attached to and extends outwardly from the outer arcuate side wall 42 intermediate to the ends of the member 12 to facilitate the manual transport of the receptacle 10.

As is apparent from the drawing, individual clothes hangers, indicated generally by the numeral 44, are mounted in the receptacle 10 with the hanger bodies 46 in a horizontal orientation in a vertically aligned stack and the hooks 48 within the slot 18. The hooks 48 con-' ventionally have an arcuate portion, disposed in the arcuate slot portion 20 and a shank portion, which is rotatable in the hanger body and extends laterally through the slot opening 24.

Although most clothing store hangers have hooks with substantially the same configuration, there is some variance, and the shank portion 22 of the slot taper to a relatively wide opening 24 to accommodate difierent hook configurations.

In operation, the receptacle is placed in an upright position near the clerks station in a clothing store, and as garments are sold and removed from their hangers 44, the individual hangers are placed in the receptacle 10 by moving the hanger hook 48 through the opening formed by the slot 18 in the top 14 and sliding the hanger downwardly with the hook retained in the slot and the shank portion of the hanger hook extending laterally through the slot opening. The first hanger 44 so deposited will rest on the base 28, while succeeding hangers will rest on top of the preceding hanger in substantially the same alignment, so that the hangers are retained in an orderly stack. If the hanger hooks 48 are not parallel with the hanger bodies 46, as is often the case, the hook is pressed against the post 32 with the hanger body 46 in a horizontal condition, so that the hook is pivoted to horizontal position wherein it will readily enter the top opening of the slot.

When the receptacle is full, or at any desired interval, it is easily emptied by inserting a rod in the recess 38 with a portion of the rod extending beyond the upper end 14, and tilting the bottom of the receptacle upwardly so that the hangers slide out of the top opening and onto the rod.

What I claim is:

1. A clothes hanger receptacle comprising: an elongated member having first and second opposite ends; an elongated slot extending longitudinally along one side of the elongated member from the first end toward the second end and having a generally hook shaped cross section so that the slot forms a hook-shaped opening at the first end of the member adapted to receive the hook portion of a clothes hanger and an elongated opening in the side of the member adapted to receive the shank portion of the clothes hanger hook; and stand means associated with the second end of the elongated member and operative to support the member in a generally upright position with the first end of the member and the opening therein facing upwardly.

2. The invention defined in claim 1 and including a recess in the elongated member extending longitudinally from the first end toward the second end Within the hook-shaped opening.

3. The" invention defined in claim 2 wherein the elongated member is formed by a single integral element of relatively thin, rigid material formed to define the walls of said slot, the slot extending the length of the member.

4. The invention defined in claim 2 wherein the hookshaped slot has an arcuate portion adapted to receive the arcuate portion of a clothes hanger hook, and a shank 7 member outwardly from the first end closely adjacent to the slot opening at said first end.

6. The invention .defined in claim 2 and including handle means mounted on the side of the elongated member opposite the side having the slot opening and providing means for supporting the member in a horizontal position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,530,609 11/1950 Friedman 211181 2,609,919 9/1952 Lee 211-49 3,115,968 12/1963 Peterson 211--49 JAMES A. LEPPINK; Primary Examiner 

